Sunday, April 22, 2012

Thursday, April 19, 2012

I'm really enjoying this. It feels a lot like Fly by Night's Anthem to me and Alex's solo feels like he decided to just jump right into it and beat the hell out of it. Will definitely pick this up when it's released.

The Mouth of the Shadowvein is an OSRIC(tm) module designed for 6-10 adventures of levels 3-5.

The depths of the underearth weigh heavily upon the party as they delve
deeper into the cold, hard stone. Every river has an end, even those
that never see the light of day. Many adventures behind, the party
continues to find the mouth of the Shadowvein. What lies ahead is surely
dangerous, but the lure of the deeps is strong with gold and magic.

I'm very pleased with this module and I think it contains some of my best work, so I hope you decide to check it out. In particular, I think the large underground fungal cavern should be supremely portable into any campaign.

Monday, April 16, 2012

I decided on Sunday to purchase a new computer. My old was was 5 years old, had a broken cd drive and was starting to get a little twitchy, so I though it was time for it to gracefully retire. So, I'm posting this from my new computer that I have named Pie. Everyone likes pie.

The transition process only took 8 hours, and I still have some stray fonts and a few stray programs to hunt down and replace. I'm going to wait to do that until they become needed. I think that if I never miss them, I probably didn't really use them much to begin with. So this is the work I've been doing instead of editing, writing, cartography, and promotion. I think I'm not cut out to be a tech guy, as after 35+ updates, I'm still getting the "Hey! I need to update!" message. I'm pretty sure there's a faster way, but oh well, I'm done.

So welcome to Teh Internets, Pie. May you stay around as long as your predecessor!

Saturday, April 14, 2012

So I've decided to finally start fleshing out my home-grown megadungeon called The Goremont Grim. Below is a bit of info about it. I don't expect to publish this and am doing it as a hobbyist and not a publisher. Putting the heart before the head, so to speak. I just did the first small map and am quiet pleased so far.

Background

The Goremont Grim is an ancient portal between dimensions,
universes, and planes. In the beginning, when the first split in reality
occurred, the Grim was created to facilitate travel between the two new realms.
When reality split again, the Grim expanded, and at each successive split the
Grim grew larger and more complex. After millennia, the Grim became a pocket
dimension with links to all of the other dimensions. Much later after that, the
Grim gained sentience (of a sorts) and started to learn from those that passed
through it. Eventually the Grim gained its freedom from its masters and became
fully autonomous.

The goal of the Grim, or even if it has one, is unknown.
Some speculate that it seeks dominion over the multi-verse, others that it
seeks only death from a senseless and eternal existence.

Holes

Entrances and exits into the Goremont Grim are called Holes.
Holes are just that, large excavated cylinders featuring a spiraling staircase
on the outside wall leading to a single passageway at the bottom. Holes can be
wide and deep or narrow and deep, but they are always at least 100 feet in
depth and of distinctive and unique construction. One cannot mistake a Hole for
anything but a Hole. The many different types of Holes are described below.
Alternate names as used by walkers are in parenthesis.

Holes: These are the base variety. They freely allow inward
and outward movement of all things. (Maws, Pits, Killer Holes)

Living Holes: These Holes allow only living tissue to move
inward and outward. All non-living material cannot enter or leave. (Naked
Holes)

Preservation Holes: These Holes allow only “appropriate”
inorganic materials to pass outward from the Grim. Appropriate is determined by
the homeworld in question, preventing technologically advanced materials (be
that science or magic) from moving from the Grim into the homeworld.
(Son-of-a-Bitch Holes)

Regardless the type, all Holes feature a long passageway
(typically of at least a mile’s length) that serves as the physical connector
between the Grim and the Hole’s homeworld. These long passages serve as
warnings to the weak of heart, allowing them time to turn back, if such is
possible based upon the nature of the Hole in question.

Holes do not consistently connect to the same area within
the Grim. Instead, they connect to any of several consistent entry points.
Generally, the Grim places a walker or group of walkers in an area of the Grim
of lesser or commensurate power, but relying up that is probably not an
assumption of the wise.

Famous for his common dictionary, Culdee also wrote a small treatise on
the languages of giants. Culdee was familiar with all the giantish
languages and in The Language of Giants he puts forth the theory that at
one time all the giants spoke the same language. He backs his assertion
with a thorough analysis of language similarities and proto-roots.
Included is a small common to giant dictionary, featuring all five of
the major giant languages.

The companion work to his The Great Astral Chart, The Ethereal Way is equally rare and valuable, Those reading and mediating upon The Way can learn to avoid ethereal encounters to a great degree. Understanding The Way requires at least a Wisdom of 18, a 14 Intelligence, and a month’s time of detailed study. When travelling the Ethereal, a follower of The Way travels one and half times faster than normal, results in only one encounter check per trip (as opposed to the normal three), and also reduces the chance of encountering a ethereal cyclone by half.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

I was just thinking that we haven't had an OSR calendar yet, and wondered if people would be interested in such? I was thinking about having new pieces of art from 12 artists who have done color illustrations for various OSR projects. I think it would be pretty cool, but my tastes are not representative of what customers prefer. So, answer my poll! :-)

This smartly illustrated work details the habits and life cycles of all major giant insects and arachnids. Debate has long raged about who Kebelow was, as The Giant Insect contains truthful information of the most useful sort. Those conscientiously studying the work gain a +1 to hit and +1 to damage in combat against the enlarged dangers and Kebelow’s information concerning their poisons provides a +1 to all saving throw rolls as well.